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Via an unattributed ruling, the nation's top court has allowed Texas to use a redrawn congressional map that could add several five new GOP-friendly districts. The six-to-three ruling, released on Thursday, approves a request by the state to set aside a lower court's injunction that had rejected the new map in November.

Court's Explanation

The federal judge erroneously placed itself into an ongoing primary campaign, generating much confusion and upsetting the sensitive balance of power in elections, the order stated in explaining its ruling.

That lower court had previously found that Texas had probably classified voters by their race – a practice known as illegal race-based districting – when it enacted the redistricting plan. It had instructed the state to employ the districts established after the most recent national count for the upcoming election.

Strong Opposition

With a sharply worded dissent, Justice Elena Kagan objected to the court's decision. She argued that it undermined the work of the lower court, pointing out that its ruling was written by a judge selected by ex-President Donald Trump.

While our court is superior in jurisdiction, we are not superior in making these fact-intensive determinations, Kagan argued in a dissent supported by Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson.

She continued, This court's stay ensures that Texas's redistricting plan, with all its increased political tilt, will dictate next year's elections. And it guarantees that many Texas citizens, without justification, will be placed in electoral districts due to their race. And that result, as this court has pronounced year in and year out, is a violation of the law of the land.

National Map-Drawing Fight

The ruling is part of a national contest over the remapping of electoral maps. Texas is a crucial component in campaigns to alter the U.S. House map to bolster a fragile Republican control. Usually, map-drawing takes place after a decennial population count. Yet the action by Texas Republicans to move ahead with a brazen mid-cycle redistricting earlier in the summer triggered a chain reaction among other states.

Conservative legislators in states like North Carolina and Missouri have also approved redistricting plans that could add a number of more Republican-leaning seats. Democrats, meanwhile, have countered with new maps in states like California and Virginia, which could offset those potential gains.

Partisan Reactions

Lone Star State AG hailed the supreme court ruling. In a statement, he said the order upheld Texas's basic authority to draw a map that guarantees electoral outcomes supportive of his party. We are setting the precedent for restoring our country, through each electoral district and individual state, he remarked.

Conversely, Democratic officials decried the decision. It's incredibly disappointing that the Court has rubber stamped a map enacted by Texas Republicans which, simply put, is an extreme, racially gerrymandered map, said the head of a major Democratic campaign committee.

Another senior House figure argued the court had yet again damaged its legitimacy by rubber-stamping a discriminatory map. This decision from the Court's far-right bloc proves extremists are willing to rig elections. The Texas map is a discriminatory power grab targeting Black and Latino voters, he concluded.